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Record fund inflows into equity mutual funds in March appeared to given a free hand to fund managers as they add new themes to their portfolio, especially from the chemical space.
According to IDBI Capital, fund managers picked up shares of Gulshan Polyols (organic fructose, sorbitol and various industrial chemicals company), Oriental Aromatics (aroma chemicals and camphor), Rossell India (tea, and aerospace & defence), HLE Glascoat (process equipment for chemical and pharmaceutical industries), RattanIndia Enterprises (electric mobility) and India Grid (power infrastructure).
With these new additions, MFs holding of chemical shares increased to ₹31,039 crore, up 12 per cent month-on-month. According to IDBI Capital, sectors such as paper, media and entertainment, and services saw a higher increase (than chemical) in asset base. But the increase was mainly on account of a sharp surge in share price.
Higher net inflows
Systematic investment plans continued to rise and hit a record ₹12,328 crore in March 2022 as investors poured in money.
"Net inflows have been higher in the last four months at lower market levels. In the last few years, every sharp market fall has witnessed higher inflows, indicating maturity among retail investors," said ICICI Securities in a report.
Inflows (ex-NFOs) into equity funds continue saw a record high of ₹20,300 crore in March 2022 compared to ₹17,800 crore in February 2022, it added.
According to IDBI Capital, MFs have exited from Sahajanand Medical, Eureka Forbes, Godawari Power, S Chand and Co, J&K Bank, Asian Granito, MSTC, Future Retail and National Fertilizers.
Among the equity funds, multi-cap fund category topped the inflow chart with ₹9,695 crore, followed by large-caps (₹3,052 crore), flexi-caps (₹2,549 crore), mid-caps (₹2,193 crore) and small-caps (₹1,696 crore). Equity-linked savings scheme or ELSS saw a inflow of ₹2,613 crore due to year-end tax saving plans by investors.
Among the large-caps, Vedanta, Indus Towers, Hindustan Zinc, SAIL, Godrej Consumer, Ambuja Cements, ONGC, HDFC Life Insurance, PB Fintech and L&T Infotech were top picks by fund managers, said ICICI Securities. IRCTC, UPL, JSW Steel, HDFC Asset Management Company, Adani Green Energy, Berger Paints, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindalco, Adani Transmission and ITC were the top large-cap sells.
The top 5 picks from mid-cap space were GMR Infrastructure, Coforge, Biocon, Sundaram Finance, Star Health and Allied Insurance, and top sells were L&T Finance Holdings, Vodafone Idea, Union Bank of India, Nalco and Godrej Industries.
Mutual Funds were net buyers worth ₹22,499 crore in March against ₹28,180 crore in February.
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